Architect and urban planner, specializing in the History of Art, she is Full Professor of Urban Design and Planning at Politecnico di Milano, where she has been teaching since 1998. Since 2011, she has been involved in research on urbanization in Global South countries, with particular attention to the african cities and the growth models of reference. 

She is the referent of the Agreement between Politecnico and the architectural schools in Cabo Verde and in Marrakech. She has been part and scientific reference of different researches in Mozambique into the Polisocial framework. 

She is part of the scientific committee of the PIMI Project – Master and Doctoral training project funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation in Maputo. She is member of the PAUI Doctoral College.